


Safe and Sound

by widowshulk



Series: Age of Ultron Countdown [11]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-03
Updated: 2015-06-03
Packaged: 2018-04-02 17:53:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 684
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4069198
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/widowshulk/pseuds/widowshulk
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bruce is needed in battle and Natasha thinks she's finally perfected the lullaby to make the Hulk transform back into Bruce.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Safe and Sound

**Author's Note:**

> As part of a countdown leading up to Age of Ultron, I wrote 18 short fics, from prompts, over 18 days.
> 
> Day Eleven. Based on the prompt "Safe and sound + Things you said before you kissed me"

“The sun’s getting real low. Got it?” Natasha asked Bruce for the fifth time.

“The sun’s getting real low, I’ve got it,” Bruce repeated.

“Okay. When you, both of you, hear me say it, you’ll come back,” she said, adjusting her uniform.

“How can you be sure?” Bruce’s hands twisted around each other, his eyes focused on the floor.

“We’ve been over this, doc. It’ll work.”

It wasn’t that Bruce didn’t trust Natasha, they’d been working on this for so long and he should feel relieved that they’d come up with a solution, but he was scared that Natasha was putting too much faith in this.

“You’ll come back, safe and sound,” she assured him, knowing that his brain was racing.

They walked to the quinjet in silence; Bruce meditated as best he could before it was time for Code Green, and Natasha knew that he needed this time for himself. As they sat, she gave his arm a gentle squeeze. 

\-- 

The fight had started out relatively normally, for a team of superheroes, but they had needed to call Hulk in when they realised how outnumbered they were. As it had been so many times before, Hulk had taken out a huge portion of their enemy force and saved hundreds of lives. That knowledge didn’t make Bruce feel any better, though. Every time he Hulked out, he felt such a surge of guilt knowing that he could easily have hurt someone innocent.

After a fight, Bruce liked to be left alone. To recuperate. Normally, Natasha left him alone, but something felt different today. She’d been so close to being able to talk him down, she’d thrown in a handshake of sorts and Hulk seemed to really respond to that, so she wanted to share the good news.

“Doc?” she asked, knocking on his bedroom door. It was still strange to her that he let her in here, he valued his privacy so much.

“One sec,” he called from the en suite bathroom. 

She sat herself on the edge of his bed, and waited.

“What’s up?” he asked, a towel around his neck.

“You were in the shower? Sorry. I can come back?” 

“You’re already here,” he replied, sitting next to her. It felt strangely intimate, them being here together on his bed. She could smell the soap on him, the shampoo in his hair; he smelt good, she found herself thinking.

“Something interesting happened out there today,” she said, turning to face him.

“What’s that?” he asked, throwing his towel across the room.

“Hulk. He responded to my touch. He almost left you, but Thor hit a robot at him, and he got mad. I think we’re there. I think I’ve got it. We’ve got it.”

“Really? You think it’ll work?”

“I do. There was something in his eyes. They’re so you,” she said, looking away. “He knew me. He knew I wasn’t the enemy. It sounds crazy, but-” she stopped, not knowing how to explain it.

“It does sound crazy, and I don’t trust him, but if you really think you’ve got it, then okay.”

“Okay?” she asked, returning her gaze to him.

“Okay, I believe you.”

“You do?” she questioned, before reasserting herself. “Well, good.”

“After all, you did bring me back. Safe and sound, like you said,” he said, laying a hand on her leg.

“I want to protect you. Like Hulk does for me.”

“He must really like you.”

“I think you’re rubbing off on him,” she said, smiling.

“Thank you.”

“For what?” she asked, raising an eyebrow.

“For coming and telling me. I know you think I like to be left alone after… and I used to. But with you, it’s different. I like having you around.”

“I like having you around too, doc,” she replied, placing her hand on his.

“You know, I’d really like to kiss you now.”

She didn’t say anything, but moved her face closer to his. Her eyes flicked down to his lips, then back up to his eyes. His eyes mimicked her. He gently touched his lips to hers and melted into him.


End file.
